GOD AND THE BOY IN KNEE-PANTS.
“Why, that was thousands of years ago,” exclaimed Fred in amazement. “Well, the sun shone thousands of years ago, and the same sun is shining to-day,” replied his mother. “But see here; I’m just a boy in knee-pants.” “That is nothing dreadful. There are probably a hundred million of you in the world, and knee-pants are no further from God than long pants.” Fred went out of the room, and pretty soon his father found him staring straight up into the sky. “Hunting for stars?” he asked laughingly. “No, sir,” Fred stammered, confused. And then he, too, laughed and asked, “How much nearer to heaven are you than I, papa?” “If you mean the blue heavens above, the top of my head is probably two feet nearer than yours. But if you mean the heart of God, there is not even that much difference, I am sure; for He loves a boy as well as a man.” “That’s what mother said, but I couldn’t understand what He could want with a boy in knee-pants, yet.” Fred’s father pointed him to where the workmen were building the stone walls of a house, and said: “You see the mason is just fitting a small stone in the wall. A large stone would not fit there. So there are hundreds of places where a boy fits into God’s plan of the world, but a man would not. Time and again he has used boys, thousands of whom we have never heard. So if you see any good that a boy can do—making another boy see the meanness of a mean act or the glory of an unselfish one, protecting a dog or other creature, lightening life’s burdens a little here and there for wearied ones, and getting ready for the work of a man by and by—remember that is one of God’s calls to you to serve Him, and that He wants all the boys in knee-pants to stand in close to Him, ready for His commands.”—Christian Endeavor World.